Lowball! 9/23 – 10/1

Welcome to another edition of Lowball!

Lowball! takes a look at home sales from a different perspective. For those new to Lowball!, a lowball offer is when a buyer offers a significantly lower bid than asking in hopes that the seller accepts the offer. We take a list of home sales from the past month and pick out the sales that have the highest percentage difference between original list price and selling price.

The purpose of Lowball! is to show buyers that the market has changed and buyers now have considerably more leverage than sellers. Just a short time ago, Lowball! offers would have been laughed at and discarded, however, not any more. The fact that so many under-asking offers are being accepted is clear proof that the market is changing.The list does not contain all sales, I hand-pick the most interesting sales from the list. These listings might be the highest dollar drops, biggest percentage reductions, or sales in towns that are thought to still be ‘hot’. Please note, even with double digit percentage reductions, these homes are still incredibly overpriced.

Counties included here are: Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Middlesex, Passaic, Somerset, Sussex, Union, Warren. Due to the large number of records, I’ve changed the percentage cutoff to 15% off of OLP. The usual cutoff, 10%, would have yielded 140 Lowball sales.

On to the list!

MLS# Town OLP LP SP % off OLP % off LP
2269098 Millburn Twp.* (1612) $1,199,000 $849,000 $772,000 35.6% 9.1%
2305629 Union Twp. (2919) $335,000 $335,000 $225,000 32.8% 32.8%
2307142 East Orange City* (1605) $374,900 $275,000 $260,000 30.6% 5.5%
2268160 Warren Twp. (2720) $725,000 $667,777 $525,000 27.6% 21.4%
2261941 South Plainfield Boro (2122) $476,900 $369,000 $350,000 26.6% 5.1%
2249916 Totowa Boro (2512) $439,000 $394,900 $330,000 24.8% 16.4%
2281213 Washington Boro* (3021) $349,900 $275,000 $266,000 24.0% 3.3%
2237983 Lake Mohawk Sparta (2814) $850,000 $699,900 $650,000 23.5% 7.1%
2281057 Stillwater Twp.* (2822) $389,000 $315,000 $300,000 22.9% 4.8%
2263157 Boonton Town (2301) $499,900 $399,900 $390,000 22.0% 2.5%
2256321 Vernon Twp.* (2824) $299,000 $259,000 $235,000 21.4% 9.3%
2276910 Westfield Twp. (2920) $1,250,000 $999,900 $985,000 21.2% 1.5%
2239419 Scotch Plains Twp.* (2916) $1,250,000 $1,150,000 $990,000 20.8% 13.9%
2229965 Phillipsburg Town (3019) $159,900 $137,500 $127,000 20.6% 7.6%
2258794 Edgewater Boro (1113) $389,000 $349,000 $310,000 20.3% 11.2%
2256573 Highland Park Boro (2107) $220,000 $195,000 $177,500 19.3% 9.0%
2256290 Weehawken Twp. (1811) $848,000 $699,621 $685,000 19.2% 2.1%
2311534 Kinnelon Boro* (2315) $1,800,000 $1,800,000 $1,455,000 19.2% 19.2%
2275693 Lincoln Park Boro* (2316) $349,900 $310,000 $283,000 19.1% 8.7%
2293385 Jersey City (1806) $445,000 $369,000 $360,000 19.1% 2.4%
2241647 Hanover Twp. (2312) $849,900 $750,000 $690,000 18.8% 8.0%
2267384 Roxbury Twp. (2336) $430,000 $385,500 $350,000 18.6% 9.2%
2265158 Sandyston Twp. (2819) $1,650,000 $1,499,000 $1,350,016 18.2% 9.9%
2280701 Monroe Twp. (2112) $209,900 $179,900 $172,000 18.1% 4.4%
2281226 Washington Twp. (2338) $499,900 $449,900 $410,000 18.0% 8.9%
2255483 Union Twp.* (2919) $430,000 $379,000 $355,000 17.4% 6.3%
2265397 Millburn Twp. (1612) $1,250,000 $1,050,000 $1,035,000 17.2% 1.4%
2269368 Bedminster Twp. (2701) $1,195,000 $1,089,000 $990,000 17.2% 9.1%
2286818 Newark City (1614) $349,900 $349,900 $290,000 17.1% 17.1%
2252376 Hillsborough Twp. (2710) $615,000 $529,900 $510,000 17.1% 3.8%
2264213 Wyckoff Twp. (1170) $599,000 $499,900 $498,000 16.9% 0.4%
2282314 Pompton Lakes Boro* (2509) $329,900 $299,900 $275,000 16.6% 8.3%
2260343 Vernon Twp. (2824) $574,900 $495,000 $480,000 16.5% 3.0%
2255428 Bound Brook Boro* (2704) $425,000 $385,900 $355,000 16.5% 8.0%
2284076 Franklin Twp. (2708) $389,000 $365,000 $325,000 16.5% 11.0%
2262045 Randolph Twp.* (2332) $1,149,900 $999,750 $965,000 16.1% 3.5%
2285601 Ringwood Boro* (2511) $424,900 $379,900 $357,000 16.0% 6.0%
2267919 North Plainfield Boro* (2714) $314,900 $299,900 $265,000 15.8% 11.6%
2284078 Bridgewater Twp. (2706) $674,900 $599,900 $570,000 15.5% 5.0%
2255509 Sparta Twp.* (2820) $325,000 $299,900 $275,000 15.4% 8.3%
2269270 Mount Olive Twp. (2327) $429,898 $369,900 $364,450 15.2% 1.5%
2300897 Warren Twp. (2720) $1,179,000 $1,100,000 $1,000,000 15.2% 9.1%
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10 Responses to Lowball! 9/23 – 10/1

  1. Sg says:

    Came across this 2 listings, which did not make any sense.

    MLS: 2322349
    ### Country Club Rd, Bridgewater
    LP: $469,900
    OLP: $ 499,000

    This house was purchased on Jun 06 for $610,000. Not sure why Owner paid such a high price to begin with !!!

    Second one,
    MLS: 2320469
    LP: $450,000
    OLP: $ 515,000

    This house was purchased on Nov 05, $325,000. This is classic Flipper. The house is not great, but he definitely spent some money fixing it. I doubt he will get 450K in this market. Will be taking some hit on this flip.

  2. Alan says:

    What does OLP, LP and SP stand for in english?

  3. Idaho_Spud says:

    Alan:

    Just guessing here, but considering we are talking about low-balling homes, maybe

    OLP=Original List Price
    LP=(Current) List Price
    SP=Sale Price

    Then again it could mean something totally different!

  4. abb says:

    i was thinking a column for days on market would be cool to see.

    how long did it take for each to blink!

  5. krisb says:

    It would be nice to see the prices of these properties in around 1995 just before the current bubble started. It would give the buyers an idea where their lowball offers should start.

  6. AdAgencyWoman says:

    I went to three open houses today in Fort Lee, NJ. I was the second to sign at all three. This was about 2 PM. Boy, these realtors are probably pulling their hair out. Still don’t feel some parts of Bergen County have reduced enough.

  7. AdAgencyWoman says:

    OOPs, I meant to put this in the weekend discussion section.

  8. lina says:

    Hi,
    I am looking to buy in Maplewood, NJ, and was wondering if anyone on the sight has some insight to this particular town’s real estate market. I’m hoping to go in to any listing a minimum of 25% off the list price. Any thoughts/advise from those of you who follow the market closely?

  9. Eugene C. says:

    I’m curious about something here. If the sellers are overpricing their homes, how do the banks that perform the *offical* appraisals factor in here? I mean, if a bank says a property is actually worth what it is listing for, doesn’t that mean anything? Are banks part of the problem here? If I am misunderstanding something, please forgive me, as I am a renter looking to buy, so I don’t necessarily know all the details. Thanks.

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